Hi friends! I’m here to today to share with you one of my favorite new ways to teach sight words in my classroom. I recently came back to kindergarten after teaching 1st grade for a couple of years. Getting the chance to teach 1st gave me a great opportunity to see what important skills my kindergarten students need to truly be prepared for 1st grade. I have really tried to create more activities this year in my classroom that encourage reading and literacy from the beginning of the school year. I also am working on creating more interactive and visually stimulating activities for my students. My new sight word program strives to encompass all of those skills into one.
Check out the video below to see it in action:
Check out the video below to see it in action:
So far, this has been an absolute game changer for my students! I already see their reading confidence increasing, and we’ve only been in school for a short time.
Let me tell you more about how it works:
The program that my team uses for sight words goes along with our district’s reading/ELA program. We introduce between 1-3 new sight words each week, and the students read little decodable books along with the program. I knew that my students LOVE using pointers and coming up to point to things on our projector screen. So, I created a few fluency phrases for my students to practice reading our weekly words, and put these phrases up on the screen! Well, the results and excitement were incredible! My class responded so well. I turned these phrases into a PowerPoint presentation, and shared with my kinder team so that they could try too. All of the classes and teachers loved it and were having so much fun!
Each fluency phrase starts with reviewing the sight words that the kiddos already know. The words that will be included in the fluency phrase come up on the screen one slide at a time for review:
Next, the fluency phrase pops up with a “blank” at the end of the sentence, where a picture will go:
Finally, the same phrase comes up with a picture for students to practice reading. Each phrase includes 5 different pictures/sentences.
I also created PowerPoints that my students will use later in the school year that include the PowerPoint phrases along with CVC words for them to read instead of the picture at the end:
I use these PowerPoints whole class with my kiddos to review and practice. I try to make sure that I do enough different slides so that each kiddo gets a turn to come up and point to the words. I have the student with the pointer read the sentence alone first. Then, I have that student stay up in the front and point to the words again, but this time, the rest of the class reads along with them!
I’ve gotten a few questions about why I have the “dots” underneath the whole word rather than underneath the first letter of the word, and I wanted to take some time to address my reasoning for that here. When we are practicing sight words, I want my students to focus less on sounding the words out, and more on keeping track of where they are on the screen or on the page in front of them. I have noticed that over the years, my students tend to touch the middle of the word, or right under the word when they are reading passages. The dots are merely a tool to help them stay focused and have a place to put their finger. There are certainly other ways to practice and encourage tracking, but this is what I have found works best in my classroom.
In addition, I am training my students with the tracking dots early in the school year, because as the year continues, our reading passages also use dots under the words to help them keep their place. Click on the picture below to read more about those reading passages:
Another way that I like to reinforce sight words in my classroom is through the use of fluency printables in my reading groups:
The phrases on these printables match the fluency phrases on the PowerPoint presentations. My students feel very confident reading these phrases since we have practiced using the pointer on the big screen! When we do these printables together in a group, I have my students read the page 3 times. They color a star at the top each time they finish reading the page. As we are working, I have each student in my group take a turn reading the page individually. The other group members listen and follow along on their own page.
Once we have finished the front of this printable, on the back I give the students the same fluency phrase, but this time with blank boxes. They get to create their OWN sentences. This is so much fun for them!
My students are super proud of what great readers they are becoming, and I am too!
Are you ready to try these fluency PowerPoints and printables out in your own classroom to see how your students respond? I created a sample PowerPoint for you, and a printable that matches for you to try with your students. Click on the picture below to download the PowerPoint:
Want to try the printables out too!? Click on the picture below for a sample:
These printables and PowerPoints are currently available on TPT in a bundle with Pre-Primer Dolch sight words. I plan to begin working on Fry words and Primer words in the near future! Click on the picture below to see this pack on TPT:
Thanks so much for stopping by and reading more about my new sight word program!
Love your word family foldables! Arlene